DSJ Hits

When Donald Trump put Michigan in the GOP column in last November’s election, Democrats sat up and took notice. It was the first time that the state had gone red since 1988, and it signaled a new capacity for the GOP to reach working class voters.

Robert James Ritchie — the Detroit musician known as Kid Rock — hopes to capture some of that magic in the race for the Michigan Senate seat held by Democrat Debbie Stabenow. On Monday, he made it official that he was running with a tweet directing supporters to his new website, kidrockforsenate.com.

“I believe if you work your butt off and pay taxes, you should be able to easily understand and navigate the laws, tax codes, health care and anything else the government puts in place that affects us all,” the message read.

That message should be enough to have his challengers in a full panic. After all, those are the same things that the president ran on, and he won Michigan, too.

As for now, Kid Rock’s campaign website only has a picture of Mr. Rock in a rocking chair (very meta!) along with merchandise and slogans derived from his lyrics: “Get in the Senate and try to help someone” and “You never met a politician quite like me” were just two of them. (Another one, “Pimp of the nation,” is bound to get some negative attention — but then, much like President Trump, Rock seems inured to controversy.)

In a statement on his website last week, Kid Rock dismissed those calling his interest in running a hoax and, while not confirming that he was going to run, went after Sen. Stabenow in his trademark style.

“Senator Stabenow and I do share a love of music, although probably not the same kind,” he wrote. “I concede she is better at playing politics than I am so I’ll keep doing what I do best, which is being a voice for tax paying, hardworking AMERICANS and letting politicians like her know that We the People are sick and tired of their bulls***!”